A Commonwealth Observer Group (COG), led by His Excellency Danny Faure, former President of Seychelles, will observe Sri Lanka's Presidential Election, which will be held on 21 September 2024.
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Commonwealth to observe Sri Lanka’s presidential election
Main page for this area of work
Heads of anti-corruption agencies in the Commonwealth Caribbean concluded their annual conference in Nassau, The Bahamas, last week with a unanimous pledge to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) in the fight against corruption.
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Caribbean anti-corruption chiefs endorse AI solutions to tackle illicit financial flows
10 June 2024 to 10 June 2024
(BST - British Summer Time)
Event
The Commonwealth Secretariat will host the opening day of the Africa Arbitration Academy at its headquarters in London on 10 June 2024.
The heads of anti-corruption agencies from 21 African member states of the Commonwealth are meeting in Accra, Ghana, from 6 May to 11 May 2024, for a significant conference aimed at enhancing regional anti-corruption efforts.
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Landmark anti-corruption conference in Ghana
The security and integrity of computer systems, digital data and networks have grown to be major concerns for states, organisations and people as a result of the development of the information society. Such concerns arise from the fact that malicious acts, such as ransomware, which target computer systems and their networks, have the potential to cause harm to individuals, countries and the global economy. Accordingly, many states and intergovernmental organisations across the world have taken steps to establish legal measures to criminalise and deter malicious acts that affect the integrity, confidentiality, availability and security of digital data and computer systems.
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Commonwealth Countries' Cybercrime Laws: An Overview
Leading competition authorities across the world have attempted in recent years to understand how companies operating within the digital space can use data to their competitive advantage and how this can distort competition and cause consumer detriment, but also how data protection laws themselves affect competition in digital markets.2 However, although the digital economy in the CSME is growing, there have been no similar attempts to understand these issues in the region.
The study approaches this issue from two perspectives. First, it provides an up-to-date overview of the international developments in this area and benchmarks the current CSME legislative framework against these international precedents. Second, the study also collects and presents baseline information on data protection and privacy in the region, to determine whether the legislative and regulatory frameworks in CSME member countries can address modern competition, consumer protection and international trade concerns.
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Impact of Data Protection and Privacy on Regulating Competition and Consumer Protection for Digital Markets within CSME
The study approaches this issue from two perspectives. First, it provides an up-to-date overview of the international developments in this area and benchmarks the current CSME legislative framework against these international precedents. Second, the study also collects and presents baseline information on data protection and privacy in the region, to determine whether the legislative and regulatory frameworks in CSME member countries can address modern competition, consumer protection and international trade concerns.
In all countries, and at all levels of government, performance seems to lie in the eyes of the beholder. Different individuals looking at the same set of facts come to widely different conclusions. Divergent views and opinions about appropriate policies and their related programmes and projects are not only understandable, but a sine qua non of a healthy democratic system. However, divergent views about the performance of a government – implementation of policies, programmes and projects – are much harder to reconcile for lack of a fact-based consensus.
The private sector, on the other hand, does not face this problem. If a private sector company presents its financial statement and claims that it has made US$350 million profit, we accept it on its face value – not because we trust them blindly, but because those financial statements are prepared using the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). These statements, in turn, are audited by an external auditor to ensure that the statements were indeed prepared using those principles. If they do not stand up to an audit, then there are consequences, such as a loss of confidence by investors, often expressed as a sharp drop in the price of publicly traded shares.
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Towards Generally Accepted Performance Principles (GAPP)
The private sector, on the other hand, does not face this problem. If a private sector company presents its financial statement and claims that it has made US$350 million profit, we accept it on its face value – not because we trust them blindly, but because those financial statements are prepared using the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). These statements, in turn, are audited by an external auditor to ensure that the statements were indeed prepared using those principles. If they do not stand up to an audit, then there are consequences, such as a loss of confidence by investors, often expressed as a sharp drop in the price of publicly traded shares.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, has echoed the concern of His Excellency Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, after President Nicolás Maduro of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela promulgated the Organic Law for the Defence of Essequiba on 3 April 2024.
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Statement by the Commonwealth Secretary-General in support of Guyana after Venezuela’s recent legislation on the April 3rd Organic Law on Essequibo
The 2024 Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting opened in Zanzibar yesterday with calls for stronger action to ensure that access to justice becomes a reality for all 2.5 billion Commonwealth citizens.
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Commonwealth law ministers meeting opens with calls for stronger action on people-centred access to justice
4 March 2024 to 8 March 2024
(GMT)
Event
The biennial Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting (CLMM) will take place in Zanzibar from 4 to 8 March 2024.
Judges from Ghana, Malawi and Zambia have praised the Commonwealth Secretariat’s training workshops, aimed at enhancing their skills in handling cybercrime cases.
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Commonwealth workshops train 150 African judges in handling cybercrime cases
The Commonwealth Secretary-General the Rt. Hon. Patricia Scotland, KC has expressed deep concern at the 21 September decision of the Venezuelan National Assembly to undertake a referendum on the status of the Essequibo region, part of the sovereign territory of the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
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Statement by the Commonwealth Secretary-General on the escalation of the Guyana-Venezuela border dispute
The negative effects of climate change on nature and humankind are wide-ranging and multifaceted, and it is accepted that the most vulnerable communities, who have contributed the least to the causation of climate change, are likely to be disproportionately affected by these adverse effects. It is insufficient for only certain countries to take action to mitigate the causes of climate change; rather it is urgent that a global effort is mobilised.
The Paris Agreement, which all 56 Commonwealth member countries have ratified, commits signatories to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Signatories to the Paris Agreement are required to submit nationally determined contributions (NDC) every five years containing mitigation commitments for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To meet these commitments, it is necessary for Commonwealth member countries to put in place carefully considered legal frameworks and policies to reduce their emissions and limit the pace of climate change.
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Commonwealth Carbon Tax Model Law
The Paris Agreement, which all 56 Commonwealth member countries have ratified, commits signatories to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Signatories to the Paris Agreement are required to submit nationally determined contributions (NDC) every five years containing mitigation commitments for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To meet these commitments, it is necessary for Commonwealth member countries to put in place carefully considered legal frameworks and policies to reduce their emissions and limit the pace of climate change.
Applications are now open for citizens of Commonwealth countries in Africa to join the prestigious Commonwealth Africa Cyber Fellowship programme.
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Applications open for Commonwealth Africa Cyber Fellowships
The Commonwealth Secretariat recently hosted a successful symposium with Lesotho judges and senior magistrates on the Latimer House Principles in Maseru, Lesotho.
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Commonwealth Secretariat conducts inaugural Latimer House Dialogues Symposium in Lesotho
This book communicates a major research exercise spanning six Commonwealth member states on the African continent. Its findings will likely have resonance much farther afield within, and globally beyond, the Commonwealth. Its mixed-methods approach includes rich and insightful qualitative research and detailed and illuminating quantitative enquiry.
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Enterprise Risk Management as a Strategic Tool in Improving Governance
The Commonwealth Secretariat, the Government of Mauritius and the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry jointly hosted a webinar this week to help companies promote and protect human rights within all business activity.
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Commonwealth and Mauritian Government host webinar to help businesses protect human rights
The Commonwealth Ministerial Group on Guyana was convened in New York on 17 September 2023 by the Commonwealth Secretary-General, The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, in accordance with a mandate given by the Commonwealth Heads of Government to monitor “developments in respect of the existing controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.”
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Statement - The Commonwealth supports Guyana’s territorial integrity and calls for the respect of the judicial process underway
21 September 2023 to 21 September 2023
Conference
The 23rd Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting (CFAMM) will take place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, on 21 September 2023 from 9AM-12PM New York time.
The objective to ‘combat all forms of organised crime’ has been recognised as one of the 169 targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG Target 16.4), demonstrating the unmistakable interrelationship between security and development. Organised crime, which we define using the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, involves a group of three or more persons that was not randomly formed, operating during a period of time in order to obtain directly or indirectly a financial or other material benefit. It is a persistent issue in the Caribbean (UNODC 2003).
A study by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime has demonstrated that organised crime could directly and significantly impact the ability to achieve 23 out of the 169 SDG targets, almost 15 per cent of them (Reitano et al. 2015). It is clear from this analysis that organised crime is a cross-cutting issue that will considerably impact SDG achievement.
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Underestimated and Overlooked: Reducing the Cost of Crime and Violence for Improved Financing for Development in the Caribbean
A study by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime has demonstrated that organised crime could directly and significantly impact the ability to achieve 23 out of the 169 SDG targets, almost 15 per cent of them (Reitano et al. 2015). It is clear from this analysis that organised crime is a cross-cutting issue that will considerably impact SDG achievement.
Mediation is growing in importance as a mode of dispute resolution, as more and more parties in an ever-wider range of disputes recognise its potential. The Commonwealth Secretariat’s Office of Civil and Criminal Justice Reform (OCCJR), with Thuso Ltd, has produced a guide for practitioners and policy-makers to the history, practice and potential of this non-adversarial path.
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Commonwealth Secretariat Empowers Legal Practitioners with New Guide on Mediation
By examining the position of mediation in a tradition of ‘adversarial’ court-adjudicated disputes, The Commonwealth Guide to Mediation chronicles the evolution of mediation as a case management tool. Furthermore, it explores the various models that have been adopted, identifying emerging areas of innovation and highlighting exemplars of good practice.
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The Commonwealth Guide to Mediation: A Resource for Practitioners and Policy-makers
Speaking at an event in Trinidad and Tobago aimed at tackling male violence, especially young men, The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland, KC, has called for societies to “act together” to reverse the tide of violence amongst men.
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The Commonwealth Secretary-General urges early and targeted action to reduce crime
This second edition of the CCJ focuses on AI: its first five articles, collected together in the special section on AI, address emerging threats and employ AI approaches to improving cybersecurity safeguards. The contributors to this issue cover topics including AI in the justice system; generative artificial intelligence-led crime as a service; violent extremism and AI; AI and the future of intellectual property rights; analysis of the Budapest Convention and draft UN anti-cybercrime framework; and the future of cyber insurance and cybercrime in the Asia-Pacific region.
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Commonwealth Cyber Journal: Volume 2
Legal experts gathered at a seminar in London on 23 May 2023 have called on Commonwealth countries to bolster reporting on the domestic implementation of international humanitarian law.
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Commonwealth countries urged to strengthen reporting on international humanitarian law